The Veteran's claim for payment of private medical expenses incurred on May 18-19, 2015 is denied because VA facilities were feasibly available and the Veteran refused transport to a VA facility. The preponderance of evidence does not support reimbursement.
The deciding factor: The Veteran specifically refused transport by ambulance to a VA facility and instead requested admission to a private hospital after presenting with mild left flank pain that had improved compared to the day before.
- Claimed conditions
- left kidney stone, lightheadedness, feeling like his face and head were on fire
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 23, 2018
- Citation
- 18152528
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 18152528.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted payment for non-VA ambulance care provided by Southwest on June 2, 2025, to transport the Veteran to Banner Casa Grande Medical Center emergency room due to leg pain and lightheadedness. The claim meets the criteria under section 1725 of the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches, with accompanying symptoms such as light and noise sensitivity, blind spots, nausea, numbness, tingling, dizziness, lightheadedness, throbbing, and pulsating pain, are considered a medically unexplained chronic multi-symptom illness (MUCMI) due to his Gulf War service. The Board granted the Veteran's claim for service connection under this presumption.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the cases of service connection for tension headaches and lightheadedness, as well as tinnitus. The Veteran's appeal is being held due to a duty-to-assist error where relevant private treatment records were not obtained.
- Granted
The Board has granted effective dates of July 8, 2009 for the awards of service connection for dizziness and lightheadedness and persistent weakness and fatigue.
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